Arthur's Day Off
by Tut-tut-lady-luck
Summary: A spinoff of The Hollow Queen with a few changes (listed inside). Arthur has a day off but he can't find Merlin. One thing leads to another, and he ends up tracking him through the woods. What will Arthur find when he finally catches up to him?


**This fanfic is set during THE HOLLOW QUEEN with some differences. **

**Brief synopsis: A druid boy comes to Merlin asking him to heal his sister, who is at the valley of the fallen kings. Merlin goes with him, only to find out that this 'druid' is not a druid at all, and is working for Morgana. Morgana poisons Merlin, and the boy (Daegal) decides to save him. They go back and save Arthur's life (again) (of course)**

**HOWEVER: IMPORTANT! I've made some changes. Arthur isn't meeting with Sarrum, and Gwen is not evil. ALSO! I am changing the time of day that Daegal came to Merlin. I made it so that they left AFTER MERLIN'S CHORES WERE FINISHED! That way he was going to travel through the night and be back by morning. Only Gaius knew he was missing until the next morning when he didn't return.**

Arthur woke up to the alarm bell. Groaning, he sat up, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes. When that didn't make him feel any better, he groaned and forced himself to get up. _Why were mornings a thing?_ he thought tiredly.

Arthur slowly went to his window to check the time. The sun was very low in the east, meaning that it was probably around 7:00. _Merlin always lets me sleep in until 7:30_, Arthur thought.

But now that Arthur was awake, he figured that Merlin might as well be awake. After all, they had a busy day ahead of them.

Ever since becoming King three months ago, Arthur hadn't had a single day off. Between his patrols, knighting ceremonies, conferences, feasts, and meetings with the people, it was no surprise that he didn't get very much time to himself. But today was different, today he made sure that he had a day off. And he intended to use it to its full potential.

Arthur started on his way to Gaius's chambers so he could wake up his manservant. It was a long, boring trek that included lots of stairs. _Merlin must have some kind of short cut, I'll have to ask him_, Arthur figured.

"Merlin!" Arthur shouted before he opened the door, "Time to wake up, I've got lots planned."

He threw open the door, nodding hello to Gaius as he walked towards Merlin's room. He threw open the door and was surprised to find the small bed empty.

"Where's Merlin?" Arthur asked, rounding on Gaius.

Gaius furrowed his brow and looked over Arthur's shoulder at the empty bed.

"Well, sire," Gaius stammered, trying to think of a good excuse for Merlin, "He must be, er, gathering herbs for me." Gaius winced internally, knowing there was no way the king would believe him.

"Gaius, you have plenty of herbs, don't cover for him. I don't know how he pays for all that cider when he disappears for so long. I bet he's been in the tavern all night," Arthur sighed. Gaius tried to respond, but Arthur cut him off with a hand, "No matter, I will go get him. I need him to set up a picnic for me and Gwen. It is my day off after all." With that, Arthur walked through the door and left Gaius, who knew that there was no way this would end well.

Arthur approached The Rising Sun, pausing for a moment when he heard shouting. It sounded like a full-blown bar fight was happening in there. One that usually led to injuries. Arthur sucked in a breath. _Merlin's in there! He can't defend himself, he's probably dead already! _He thought, already panicking. He ran inside, barely dodging a cup flying towards him. The sight before him would actually be quite funny if Arthur weren't so worried. People and objects alike were flying everywhere. Curses and shouts were so loud that Arthur could barely hear his own thoughts.

Arthur cleared his throat loudly. The people closest to him stopped to look at him. They paled slightly when they saw the king. Slowly but surely, the people in the tavern stopped fighting, leaving a tense silence behind.

"Evoric, where is my manservant?" Arthur demanded, striding towards the nervous clerk.

"Merlin?" Evoric asked, "I haven't seen him anywhere, although knowing him he might be trying to get Gwaine out of here. Check over there," he said pointing to a corner.

Arthur stormed to where he was pointing, the thick smell of alcohol was making him feel on edge. He ought to put Merlin in the stocks for making him come in here.

Gwaine was passed out on the ground with a small cut on his cheek, probably from some flying glass. He reeked of alcohol.

"Gwaine!" Arthur shouted in his ear, slapping his cheek. Gwaine stirred slightly.

"He's been here all night, highness," said a balding man. "I've been keepin' an eye on him. He should be comin' around soon."

Arthur sighed. He didn't have time for this, really. "If you've been watching him, then where is Merlin?"

"Merlin? Scrawny fellow with black hair right?" When Arthur nodded, he continued, "Haven't seen him in a while, highness."

"I saw 'im," another man said. "Not here, but I saw 'im last night with another fellow. They went into the forest. They were acting all secretive, so I watched 'em for a bit."

"What were they doing?" Arthur asked.

"As far as I saw, they only picked some plants and kept goin'," the man replied, "I didn't think it was too suspicious, I mean the boy works for the physician."

Arthur frowned. Had Gaius been telling the truth?  
"Has anyone seen him since then?" Arthur asked. There were a few "No"s and a lot of shaking heads. Arthur sighed heavily. This was already taking a lot more time than he wanted.

"Which direction were they going?" Arthur asked.

"North sire," the man said.

Arthur nodded, "Keep an eye on Gwaine please," he said to the first man, "When he wakes up tell him to sober up and report to Sir Leon," Arthur pulled out two silver coins and handed one to each man, "For your troubles."

"Thank you, sire," they both said.

Arthur stormed out of the pub. Picking herbs he could perhaps understand. But who was this other boy they mentioned? Arthur sighed. He knew he was wasting time, but he wanted to find Merlin. After all, whoever this boy was might be trouble. He at least was going to find out who he was.

"Gaius," Arthur called as he approached the door to the physician's chambers. He entered without knocking (as was the king's right). "Is Merlin actually picking herbs?"

Gaius paused, uncertainty flashing on his face, "Sire?" he asked.

"The people in the tavern said they saw Merlin leaving the citadel with another man. They said he was heading north. Is that why he isn't here?"

Gaius thought for a moment before deciding to tell part of the truth. "Sire, it isn't quite so simple. Last night someone approached Merlin, asking him to go heal his sister. Merlin left with him right after he finished his chores. But he was meant to be back by now."

Arthur frowned, "Where did they go?"

Gaius hesitated before saying grimly, "The valley of the fallen kings."

Arthur sucked in a breath, "Is he stupid?!" he shouted, "Doesn't he know how dangerous that is?"

Gaius winced, "I fear he might know now."

Arthur started to pace back and forth, trying to decide what to do. No, not what to do, he, of course, was going to go after Merlin. The question was how and with who.

"Anything else you can tell me, Gaius?" Arthur asked, turning to the door.

"No, good luck sire," Gaius said grimly.

Arthur stormed towards the stables. He couldn't believe Merlin's stupidity! _You can't just follow people to the woods Merlin!_ He thought.

"Tyr!" he shouted as soon as he arrived. "Saddle up two fast horses as quick as you can. I'll return as soon as I find Sir Leon.

"Yes, sire!" Tyr called, getting to work immediately.

Arthur fetched Leon from the training grounds, putting Percival in charge. Gwaine groaned loudly at the new development, knowing Percival was going to make them do plenty of cardio.

"What is it sire?" Leon asked as they made their way back to the stable.

"_Mer_lin, like the idiot he is, followed some random man to the valley of the fallen kings. Apparently he was supposed to be back by now, so one can only believe that he is in some sort of trouble."

"Merlin went to the valley of the fallen kings? Alone?" Leon asked surprised.

"We are going to find him, and then I'll put him in the stocks for a week for ruining my day off," Arthur grumbled.

Because both Leon and Arthur were exceptional trackers, it wasn't hard to find the route that Merlin had taken. Leon and Arthur rode quickly, taking only two hours to reach their destination.

Arthur stopped his horse and dismounted, "We'll go on foot from here. We can't be far."

Leon dismounted. They both tied their horses up, and looked for Merlin's tracks.

"There," Arthur said after a few minutes.

They followed the trail silently. Leon kept an eye out for any dangers while Arthur focused on tracking.

It took nearly an hour to find Merlin, but Arthur nearly had a heart attack when they finally did.

Merlin had fallen off a ledge and his leg was injured. He was unconscious and nearly as white as a sheet.

"Merlin! What's happened?" Arthur cried, jumping down to him. Leon was close behind.

Merlin slowly opened his eyes. They were slightly crossed and very unfocused. He tried to make a noise but instead, he started coughing up foam.

Foam?

"Merlin, why are you foaming at the mouth, what's wrong?" Arthur asked, starting to panic. He tried to prop Merlin's head up to make it easier to breathe.

"A-Arthur?" Merlin gasped, "Arthur y-you shouldn't b-be here," he struggled to say. His breaths were hollow gasps.

"Shut up Merlin and tell me how this happened." Arthur snapped.

Merlin groaned, his injured leg was starting to twitch, which made him wince. Leon went to try to clean it out without causing too much pain.

"P-poisoned. M-Morgana hired someone t-to bring me out here so she could k-kill me." Merlin groaned, wincing as Lancelot poured water on his wound.

"What can we do?" Arthur asked, "There must be an antidote!"

"Daegal's already getting herbs. He'll be back s-soon. He was the one who led me out here, but he didn't know. All he knew was that he was getting money."

Arthur clenched his fists. How dare this _Daegal_ lure his manservant out here. No…

"_Mer_lin! How could you be so _stupid_ and let him get you so far out!" Arthur demanded.

"I thought- I thought-" Merlin leaned over to cough up some more foam. Arthur winced and patted Merlin's back gently. "I thought his sister was dying. I knew how to treat the sweating sickness. It was a trick though," he finally said grimly. His voice was growing weaker.

"Sire," Sir Leon said, "It probably isn't' good for Merlin to talk right now."

Arthur nodded. "Lay back Merlin. Try… try not to die ok? I don't want to have to get a new servant."

Merlin smiled weakly, and for once seemed happy to be quiet.

Daegal showed up only minutes later. He froze when he saw the knights.

"Don't just stand there! Help him!" Arthur snapped.

Daegal nervously scrambled forward, trying to remember the instructions Merlin had given him moments before. Once it was in liquid form, he handed the small cup to Merlin.

Merlin drank the contents, wincing at the bitter taste. He gave a soft groan as it burned his throat.

"I need you to push on my chest, all of you." Merlin rasped. They all did so, pushing gently on his chest, "Harder," he grunted as his whole body started to spasm.

His body shook, and Merlin began to expel the contents of his stomach. After almost two minutes of this horrible process, Merlin went still.

Arthur bent down to check him. He was unconscious, but his breathing seemed to be the slightest bit better (which was still _awful_). He would live for a little longer it seemed.

"He's fine. Or as fine as he can be," Arthur sighed, "Leon, clean out his wound better. I would like to chat with Daegal."

**Let me know if you want a chapter 2! It would be Daegal explaining himself INCLUDING THE 'MERLIN HAS A SOFT SPOT FOR DRUIDS PART' (I am kinda excited to write that haha) and how Arthur takes action.**

**I know Leon is pretty useless here. I plan on making him more useful in chapter two. Sorry for making him a minor character though!**

**Review if you want another chapter, or if you thought it was good! It always makes my day! **

**See you guys in Avalon!**


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